2007 The UUFL breaks of dependency on casino revenues as main source of funding. Also marks 15 years in existence.1992 The UU Fellowship of Lethbridge incorporated October 5, 1992.1992 Brent Pierce passes the goddess pendant - the presidential badge of office - to Peter Dibble in May of 1992.1991 First AGM at a local Chinese restaurant.1991 By May 1991, we had proceeded far enough in our formal organization to be officially welcomed to the Canadian Unitarian Council membership at the Winnipeg convention.1988 By the fall of 1988, a small group was meeting twice a month, at first in homes and then in the Fritz Sick Memorial Centre, with a discussion group format.1987 UUA Western Canada District sent out Maggie Cowtan from the Calgary church and the Reverend Mary Scriver, then in Saskatoon, to ascertain whether a fellowship could be re-established in Lethbridge.1969 The Lethbridge Unitarian Fellowship formally dissolved.1966 Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova, founder of USC Canada, visits Lethbridge Unitarian Fellowship.1966 The Lethbridge Unitarian Fellowship established in the fall of 1966 following a visit from the Unitarian Universalist Association Continental Fellowship Director, Munroe Husbands.

Our Roots go back several centuries -Some religious traditions are named after their founder (Lutheran, Mennonite), and some after their forms of governance (Presbyterian, Episcopalian). Other sects are named for their distinctive practices or doctrines (Baptists, Methodists). The line of dissenters and reformers who have rejected Trinitarian conceptions of God (“God in three Persons”) begins in the fourth century.i Nonconformists who stressed the oneness or unity of God eventually became known as Unitarians.

In response to the excesses of 18th Century American Calvinism, another generation of reformers and dissenters began proclaiming the good news of universal salvation. Universalists, as they were called, taught that the love of an omnipotent God could not be thwarted or evaded. Eventually all people would be restored to perfect fellowship with God. Hell, they said, had an exit door. If people went there, it was to endure a just punishment not everlasting torture.ii

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Who We Are Today - Over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, Unitarians and Universalists moved beyond the Christian consensus. Since the 1950s, our churches and fellowships have become “multi-theological”.iii Many influences contributed to this change; the following is but one way to describe the transformation.

Unitarians and Universalists have long insisted that truth is both known and to be known. No sacred text and no faith community can embody a “full and final revelation” of truth. When Unitarians and Universalists merged in 1961, they pledged to strengthen one another in a free and disciplined search for truth as the foundation of their religious fellowship. Today we affirm and promote a “free and responsible search for truth and meaning.”

Many religious communities use creeds or statements of belief to keep the faithful from straying “out of bounds.” Periodically both Unitarians and Universalists have drafted “Confessions” or “Statements of Belief.” Since 1899 these documents have included a “liberty clause” – a promise that subscription to our statements of belief will not be made a requirement for membership or a “test” of faith.

Writing in 1819. Rev. William Ellery Channing lamented how – in the name of pious zeal – believers shut their eyes to the virtues of their neighbors, claiming for their own sect every excellence, and for their own creed all saving power. More than a century later, Rev. Kenneth Patton expressed the Universalist ideal when he said,

"We look for insight and wisdom to all of humanity, for truth and goodness have never been the monopoly of any one people or religion. For this reason we do not call ourselves Christian or Jewish or Buddhist, although these traditions [and others] are greatly cherished…."

Our acceptance of religious pluralism is both critical and warm-hearted. We are still changing, still growing, but these things remain the same: We emphasize ethical living, practical piety and cooperation with all people of good will. If you visit one of our fellowships, we hope you will find something honorable and admirable in our way of doing things. Rev. William Schulz wrote:

This is the mission of our faith:To teach the fragile art of hospitality;To revere both the critical mind and the generous heart;To prove that diversity need not mean divisiveness;And to witness to all that we must hold the whole world in our hands.

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The Member Congregations of the Canadian Unitarian Council affirm and promote:

The inherent worth and dignity of every person;

Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;

Acceptance of one another and encouragement of spiritual growth;

A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;

The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process;

The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;

Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

The living tradition which we share draws from many sources:

Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;

Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;

Wisdom from the world’s religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;

Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God’s love by loving our neighbours as ourselves;

Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit;

Spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.

Grateful for the religious pluralism which enriches and ennoble our faith, we are inspired to deepen our understanding and expand our vision.

We welcome people of all sexual and gender orientations. Our Chaplain is pleased to marry same-sex couples.iv

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NOTES:i The first Christian to challenge Trinitarian theology was Arius (c. 250-336 CE), a Priest from Alexandria. “Arianism” was condemned by the First Council of Nicaea (325 CE) and was outlawed in the Roman Empire by 379 CE. In the 1540s an Italian reformer named Laelius Socinus (1525-1562) began to re-think Trinitarian doctrine. Those who took up his ideas were called “Socinians”. Laelius Socinus had a nephew, Faustus Socinus (1539-1604), who became the leader of a thriving Socinian community in Racow, Poland. The Racow community published the Racovian Catechism in 1605. In England, Socinians were not called “Unitarians” until the 1670s.

ii The third century theologian Origen (c. 185-254 CE), one of the fathers of the Christian church, advocated belief in universal salvation in his book On First Principles (c.225 CE). The doctrine of universal salvation was declared a heresy in 544 CE.

iii The following table summarizes the results of a survey of almost 10,000 U.U. members conducted by the Unitarian Universalist Association in 1997

iv In 1974, Unitarian Rev. Norm Naylor used “reading of banns” in an attempt to legally register the marriage of Richard North and Chris Vogel of Winnipeg. That same year, Rev. Rob Brownlie, minister at the Unitarian Church of Edmonton, performed the first Service of Union for a same-sex couple in Alberta. Unitarians stand with the Canadian Coalition of Liberal Rabbis, with Quakers, with the United Church of Canada and with The Metropolitan Community Church in support of same-sex marriage